Twin Sisters Beat Incredible Odds to Give Birth on the Same Day

Heather Richardson and Sarah Fidler have been close ever since they shared a womb. The 35-year-old identical twins went to the same university, share the same profession as science technicians, and now they even have children that share a birthday.

The sisters both gave birth on February 13, overcoming an incredible 400,000-1 chance that the babies would arrive on the same day. Heather had a caesarian section and welcomed 8lb daughter Emelie Frances at 1:20 A.M. Meanwhile, Sarah says she went into labor when Emelie was born, and 7lb Austin Gibbs was born hours later.

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Sarah said, "I honestly didn't think that I would go into labor at the same time … my contractions started at 1:20 A.M., the exact moment Emelie was born by C-section, and I had Austin at 2:55 P.M. that day."

The moms had their babies at separate hospitals, but the babies were moved to another hospital for postnatal care, and are nestled into side-by-side bassinets. A midwife said, "This is the first time I've ever known this to happen. It's so rare and to have them both on the ward confused us greatly!"

Not only were Emelie and Austin born on the same day, but their Heather and Sarah both found out they were pregnant on the same day too! Heather bought a two-pack pregnancy test, and after getting a positive on one test, she and her husband Daniel broke the news right away to family. On a whim, Sarah took the other test, and she got a positive result too!

Sarah’s husband Sean, who happens to be a childhood friend of Daniel’s, said that he feels very close to his niece as well as his son. "To me it feels as though we've had twins ourselves,” he said. "Not only have I got a son but I've got a daughter as well."

I know they say the twin bond is very strong, but this is crazy! The sisters say that they feel each other’s emotions and pains sometimes, but could the overwhelming feeling of Heather becoming a mother have kicked Sarah’s body into gear? I don’t think it’s that far fetched.

Do you think the babies being born on the same day is purely coincidental, or is it a twin thing?